BLS (Bern-Lotschberg-Simplon Railway)

Switzerland’s largest regional railway company, BLS was founded in 1906 by the cantonal government of Bern to provide an alternative to the Gotthard Line. The current BLS S.A. company was formed in 2006 after several restructurations of BLS in the early ‘2000s (including a task-sharing agreement with the federal railways in 2001 and the merger with several other smaller regional railways). Currently, BLS operates both freight and passenger services on the Lotschberg line and in the canton of Bern and Lucerne (including both cities’ S-Bahn systems).